Caylie G’s “Brenda Heather Kelly” Is a Brightly Cynical Pop-Folks Ship-Up of the Wellness Apocalypse
Edmonton-based pop-folk artist Caylie G (they/she) has launched their new single “Brenda Heather Kelly,” a biting, glitter-drenched anthem for anybody who’s ever ghosted a celebration by way of faux telephone name. Out now, the observe units the stage for Caylie’s upcoming third EP, slated for launch in September 2025. Equal elements sad-cowboy pop and queer satire, “Brenda Heather Kelly” turns a mirror on influencer tradition, performative pleasure, and the absurdity of making an attempt to be “the most well liked particular person within the room.”
Written by Caylie and long-time collaborator Father Bobby Townsend, who additionally produced and blended the observe, the music leans into the strain between large emotions and social fakery. With strains like “Everybody loves a miracle drug / I will be unhappy and make it look enjoyable,” Caylie laces their observations with humour, self-awareness, and a form of exhausted knowledge that resonates with anybody navigating the strain to carry out their finest life on-line and off.
“Opposite to the glittering theatrics, I’m not a partier,” Caylie says. “This music got here from an actual celebration I went to and hated each minute of. I spotted I used to be caught on this loop of comparability—everybody making an attempt to be cooler, hotter, smaller. So I wrote the music as a form of exorcism. It’s half diary, half pop diss observe, half existential shrug.”
With background vocals from a good circle of mates and a swooning pedal metal by Booker Diduck, “Brenda Heather Kelly” appears like a honky-tonk remedy session in a bunch chat gone rogue. The manufacturing sparkles, however the melancholy lingers. Strains about Ozempic envy, 37-year-old boyfriends, and Denny’s makeout classes all level to the music’s central message: that even after we’re pretending to be wonderful, most of us are simply faking a name from our mother to flee the noise.
Caylie’s songwriting ethos blends four-chord storytelling with queer intimacy, navigating heartbreak, psychological well being, and softness with candour. They describe their sound as “sad-cowboy pop for the lovers, criers, and heartbreak champions which have by no means gotten over something.” Since debuting with two EPs in a single 12 months—The Trials and Tribulations of a Twenty-Two-Yr-Previous Teenager and Softhearted Cowboy—Caylie has steadily constructed a loyal viewers throughout Canada.
In 2024, they opened for Priyanka (winner of Canada’s Drag Race) and have been featured at Winnipeg Folks Fest and Banff Delight. Now, Caylie is about to carry “Brenda Heather Kelly” and a slate of recent music to phases throughout the nation. Tour dates for summer time 2025 embrace stops at a few of the most beloved indie and people festivals in Canada:
- July 18–20 – Folks On The Rocks – Yellowknife, NWT
- July 22 – Style of Edmonton – Edmonton, AB
- July 26 – The Aviary – Edmonton, AB
- August 23 – Japanese Slopes Pageant – Calgary, AB
- August 29-31 – Waynestock – Wayne AB
“Brenda Heather Kelly” is the soundtrack for a era that medicates, disassociates, and quietly copes with being chronically uncool.
“It’s not anti-party,” Caylie clarifies, “It’s only for the individuals who’ve by no means wished to be the principle character at one.”
Hello Caylie! Good to satisfy you! Care to introduce your self to the readers for these not accustomed to your music?
I’m Caylie G! I’m from Edmonton, Alberta, I make unhappy cowboy pop, and have by no means gotten over something in my entire complete life.
Let’s begin with the apparent—who’s Brenda Heather Kelly? Is she an actual particular person, an alter ego, or the chaotic spirit of each celebration you’ve ever hated?
Oh- she’s an actual particular person alright- three individuals truly. A few 12 months in the past, I went to a celebration that I didn’t actually wish to go to, and whereas I used to be there, I ended up in a circle of ladies speaking about how all of their mothers have been on Ozempic. Their mother’s names have been Brenda, Heather, and Kelly.
I’ve a working observe in my telephone of music concepts (I do know some musicians which have a special observe for every music concept they’ve, and I feel that’s serial killer behaviour #sorrynotsorry), and I wrote down all of their names as quickly as I’d heard them. I informed all the ladies that I might be writing a music about their mothers.
That line—“I will be unhappy and make it look enjoyable”—appears like a thesis for thus many individuals on-line. Was there a second if you realized you have been dwelling that actual contradiction?
Once I’m taking part in reveals, I’m normally dressed up in a tutu, sparkles, cowboy boots, and my hair is vivid pink. I attempt to construct my dwell reveals in a approach that’s actually playful and enjoyable (for me and for the viewers).
Just a few years in the past, I labored a job that I completely hated and simply usually was in a not-so-great mindset. I bear in mind driving dwelling from a present alone one night time at most likely one within the morning, understanding I had a shift that began at 5 am, and I used to be like- what am I doing? And what a contradiction to go from the excessive of a present to the low of company boredom.
The music was written a 12 months or two after that, however that’s a second I bear in mind actually clearly.
You joke about Ozempic envy and 37-year-old boyfriends—how do you stability humour and heartbreak with out shedding the emotional weight of a music?
I form of really feel like I’m a mother making an attempt to get her child to eat broccoli by disguising it in mac and cheese. I’ve a number of large emotions, and one of many issues that’s most essential to me is that I permit myself the area to really feel these emotions and provides others the area to do the identical. On the flipside, I really like pink, glitter, and sparkles, and wish to assume that I’ve a usually optimistic outlook on the world. I feel that honouring these two issues equally is a part of my trademark as an artist. So whereas I’m singing about actually severe and gutwrenching issues, I attempt to ship it in a approach that’s actually palatable. Usually, with both humour and an unhinged and pointless quantity of glitter.
“Brenda Heather Kelly” is clearly for the quiet rebels, the observers, those within the nook of the room. What do you hope these listeners really feel after they hear it for the primary time?
I feel that secretly, everybody loves an excellent ol’ original pop music. The celebration haters, quiet observers, and introspective deserve a music they’ll dance to and let their hair down to only as a lot as everybody else. I hope they take heed to it and know that there are individuals of their nook who really feel all the identical issues they do.